askSam Standard 6

The world's most popular free-form database

askSam is
not a traditional database. It's a whole new way to manage
information. Traditional database software is designed to handle
structured data. It requires you to pre-define a structure and
force you to shoe-horn your information into this
structure.
...

askSam is
not a traditional database. It's a whole new way to manage
information. Traditional database software is designed to handle
structured data. It requires you to pre-define a structure and
force you to shoe-horn your information into this
structure.

askSam requires
no predefined structure or field lengths.

askSam is easy
to use. You can search without learning a query language. You can
create reports without programming.

askSam is
flexible. You can combine both free-form and fielded information
in the database.

askSam is the ideal application to organise your
information. askSam is a different kind of database - a free-form
database designed for users rather than programmers. askSam makes
it easy to turn anything into a searchable database: email
messages, word processing documents, text files, spreadsheets,
addresses, Web pages, and more.

You are now
able to access more information than ever before - on the
Internet, via email, on CD-ROMS, or in files on your hard drive.
askSam lets you turn this information into searchable
databases.

You can
type information directly into askSam, or you can import
information from a wide variety of sources including:

Adobe PDF
Files

Text
files

RTF
files

HTML
files

Word processing
documents (Microsoft Word and WordPerfect)

Email messages (Microsoft Outlook, Eudora,
PocoMail, Netscape etc.)

Databases
(Microsoft Access, dBASE, Paradox, ODBC)

Spreadsheets
(Microsoft Excel)

Comma-delimited,
Tab-delimited, and Fixed-position data

askSam can also
import documents scanned using an OCR application.

Lightning
Fast Searches

Once your
information is in askSam, you're ready to search. Not only can
you search on the contents of fields, but you can search on
free-form text. askSam offers a wider variety of searches than
any other database program and some of the fastest and most
powerful searches you'll find anywhere.
askSam supports the following types of searches:

Full-text
searches for any word or phrase

Wildcard
searches with * and ?

Boolean
searches (AND, OR, and NOT)

Proximity
searches

Numeric
searches (>, =, <=, <>)

Date
searches

Fuzzy
searches

Search through
multiple askSam databases

Case sensitive
searches

Easy to Design
Database Forms

Setting up
structured database is a breeze with askSam. You simply use the
Entry Form Wizard to set up your form. askSam Entry Forms are
flexible and easy. Type in names for your fields and you're ready
to go.

When you
add a document simply fill out the fields. askSam fields can
automatically expand making room for all your information. It
doesn't matter whether you enter an extra word, sentence,
paragraph, or 100 pages of text. askSam can easily handle it.
This makes askSam ideal for storing notes, transcripts, and other
textual information. Just type (or import) the information, and
you can search for anything.

Turn Texts
into Databases

askSam's
Automatic Field Recognition enables you to turn information into
an instant database. askSam can automatically identify words that
provide structure in your information and use these words as
fields. For example, email messages often contains words like
"To:", "From:", "Date:", and "Subject:" askSam lets you
automatically use these words as fields. You can search, sort,
and even create reports using these words as fields.

No programming is necessary to create great looking
reports. Simply use askSam's built in Report Writer to drag and
drop field names to the desired position on the screen. An askSam
report can be as simple as a sorted list of names and telephone
numbers, or it can contain grouped fields, field totals and
summaries. You can even include memo fields in a
report.

askSam
gives you the power of a database without the complexity. No need
to programme or learn a complicated query language. With askSam,
you simply import or enter information, and you're ready to
search. askSam users range from individuals organising email,
addresses and research notes, to corporations and government
departments managing meeting minutes, regulations, policy manuals
and corporate databases.